On the arrest of typhus fever by quinine / by Robert Dundas.

  • Dundas, Robert, active 19th century.
Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the arrest of typhus fever by quinine / by Robert Dundas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    14/16 (page 12)
    Tliere is, also, at the present moment, another patient in the Hospital (James Moore), in whom we have conjoined the mulberry rash, the rosy lenticular rash, and true erysipelas — the latter classed by Dr. Watson, one of the latest and best authorities, with the contagious exanthemata—as a specific disease, running a definite course, and attended with an eruption. Now, in this instance we have, according to authority, three dis- tinct morbid poisons—the typhus, the typhoid, and the erysipelatous— contending for mastery in the same unhappy individual, and all run- ning their regular course, unchecked and unmodified in the slightest degree. Does the history of other morbid poisons present us with anything analogous ? On the authority, indeed, of Carmichael, a plurality of venereal poisons was at one time pretty generally admitted by the profession; but was finally exploded by M. Ricord, of Paris, who, on one occa- sion, exhibited, with a smile, to Mr. Carmichael himself, his four dis- tinctive eruptions classically designed on one and the same patient. This argumenhcm ad hominem did not, I believe, prove altogether conclusive to Mr. C, but perfectly so to every one else; and the plurality of venereal poisons soon disappeared. All must admit that our lot is cast in revolutionary times. I, how- ever, as a loyal citizen of the republic of medicine, have now discharged my duty in handing over the quinine system, and the principles on which it is based, for trial before the legal and constituted authorities. Lilie other arch-revolutionists, the present doctrine is earnest in its promises to benefit the public: I have not, however, allowed its justification to rest solely on my own testimony to character—naturally open to challenge—but have adduced other, and unimpeachable evi- dence, and I now await with confidence the verdict; for although the profession be a republic, and its decrees too often tinged by human infirmity, I firmly believe that its final judgments are never wanting in calmness, and justice, and truth. An incidental interest attaches to the doctrine now advocated, namely, that it will aflford an opportunity for testing the value of the infinitesimal doses of homoeopathy with doses even larger than those commonly employed by regular physicians. Let an adequate number of fever cases be selected; place them side by side in the same room; let six be treated on my plan ; six infinitesimally ; let competent indivi- duals (not including myself) be appointed on either side to take the notes, day by day, administer the remedies, and report the results; and on these results I am willing to stake, absolutely, my own profes- sional reputation, and the reputation of legitimate medicine, so far as that can be staked by such an humble individual as myself. I enter- tain no doubt that the authorities of the Fever Hospital, or of the Infimiary, the Northern or the Southern Hospitals, or the Dispensaries, will readily afford the means of testing by direct comparison, that which I believe, with the rest of the profession, to be a dangerous delusion, but which has obtained suflficient extension to render its refutation an object of public interest. To this cxperimentum crucis no honest homoeopath can object. Canning-street, Liverpool, November 1851.